As I write in the opening days of autumn, a potentially great Canberra vintage hangs in the balance – threatened by a massive band of rain moving across south-eastern Australia. If it hangs around too long, mildew and Botrytis could threaten the crop; if too much rain falls, berries might split, increasing disease risks and reducing yields. Should mild, clear weather follow the big wet, however, the district may yet produce some of its best wines ever, several producers say. By the time you read this, we’ll have some idea of the outcome, writes Chris Shanahan in the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Riverina’s massive 280,000 tonne winegrape harvest is deteriorating by the day in flood water. Riverina Winegrape Growers chairman Bruno Brombal expects losses to total up to 30,000 tonnes in the region. Mr Brombal said many grape varieties were infected with Botrytis, rendering them useless for wine making. He said growers in the Yenda district, near Griffith, had lost entire crops in the midst of harvest, reports Weekly Times Now.

When it comes to wine, vintage is everything. Distant years are spoken of with great fondness, while some decades earn hushed reverence with wine lovers. That might be logical when it comes to the content of bottles, but what about the people working on those precious liquid? Without fresh faces the viticulture industry will be dead on the vine. It’s lucky then that there are people like Sam Bowman jumping into the wine world boots and all, reports ABC Central Victoria.

Coonawarra grapegrowers say close to ideal conditions over the past season should lead to a good Cabernet vintage. Growers will this week begin to harvest red varieties after the sparkling and white harvest began last month. The president of the Coonawarra Grape Growers Association, Daniel Newson, says good weather has allowed the grapes to ripen slowly, reports ABC News.

Winegrape varieties could soon be developed with a much higher tolerance to the harsh Australian conditions. Plant scientist Matthew Gilliham, from the University of Adelaide, was awarded $22,000 by the Grape Wine Research and Development Corporation to map the genetic make-up of a key grapevine rootstock. Viticulturists use rootstocks of grapevine plants to impart favourable characteristics in their winegrape varieties, reports ABC Rural.

Getting serious wine buffs to agree on which is the greater red wine style, Bordeaux or Burgundy, is akin to getting a roomful of economists to agree on anything. Bordeaux is the classic blend involving Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Petit Verdot and Malbec. It can be all of the above, sometimes with a dash of Carmenere, or it can be a combination of just a few such as St Emilion wines, which often rely on Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Burgundy, by contrast, is a single varietal: Pinot Noir, writes John Hawkesby in The New Zealand Herald.

The Ritzling. It may be a hard name to swallow for some, given it really is just a cutesy rebranding of Riesling, but it’s a beautiful drop. Launched in 2009 by award-winning winemaker Chris Archer, of Archer McRae Beverages, the Ritzling was bred out of Archer’s frustration with the wine industry, specifically its marketing constraints. The Ritzling, targeted at females aged 25-55 and young metro males, comes in a bottle resplendent with images of a semi-gothic lion’s head, a butterfly and a peacock, reports Auckland Now.

London wine merchant Bibendum has revealed a list of wines that will be served at the London Olympics this summer. Along with classics such as a 2008 Meursault Cuvee Charles Maxime Domaine Latour-Giraud and 2006 Brunello di Montalcino Castello Banfi, corporate guests will be served 2010 Best’s Dolcetto, a 2006 Quinta do Seival Castas Portuguesas from Brazil and a 2009 Quinta do Vallado Tinto from Portugal. In a nod to the host nation, the 2008 Hush Heath Balfour Brut Rosé will be on offer. The 2006 Balfour Brut won Silver at the Decanter World Wine Awards last year. This is the only English wine in the list of 18 wines so far announced, reports Decanter.

Maxxium Hong Kong, one of Hong Kong’s largest and most prolific wine and spirits distributors founded in 1999, is changing its name as of 1 April to become Edrington Hong Kong Limited. The company will work in conjunction with the Edrington Group, the major private group in the Scottish whisky industry, reports The Drinks Business.

Tertini Wines, based near the southern highlands town of Berrima, has won five of the nine trophies at the 2012 Australian Highlands Wine Show. Its 30-year-old winemaker, Jonathan Holgate, starred with Riesling and Pinot Noir. The 2008 Tertini Riesling won best Riesling, best dry white wine and best wine of show while the 2009 Tertini Pinot Noir won best Pinot Noir and best red wine of show. It’s a far cry from this time last year when Holgate, who is married with two young children, was seriously injured when a loaded bin of grapes toppled and crushed him, damaging several vertebrae in his lower back, writes Huon Hooke in the Sydney Morning Herald.